The Savannah tribune. [volume] (Savannah [Ga.]) 1876-1960, 1887-05-21
tODERN TORPEDO BOATS.
he DEVELOPMENT OF POWERFUL
VESSELS OF WAR.

4 Speedy Boats Armed With Machine
MI Gums and Torpedoes- Ericsson's
III "Destroycr"-A Submarine Gun.
III The most noted torpedo boat builders
s. 4 the world are Messrs YarrOw and
4 Riessrs. 1h0mycroft of London. Each
XII these great firms employs from 1000
No 300 workmcn and can turn out at
4 east one completed boat per week. The
Fshief popularity of iorpedo-bOat~ is their
lmoSt phenomenal speed. They arc
Puilt Of steel, the different classes ranging
8sn length from fifty-tiYc feet, intended for
lFiarbor defence, to vessels Of 1GG feet
ieapable Of making M extended cruise at
sea. The Fake, boat recently built by
#he NIessrs. Yarrow for the Austro-IIun-
sarlan Government, is I 30 feet long, four
tecn feet wide, dlaught of water five feet
six inches and attained on the trial trip
b speed Of twenty-five aud one-haif miles
8per hour. The armament consists of two
sNordenfeldt machine-guns, carried on
deck, and two bow-tubes for discharging
4 Whitehead torpcdoes.
4 The development Of torpedo boats is
now so rapidly progressing that any de-
#scription becomes almost out Of date dur
4 ing the writing. A vessel just completed
+ by the Messrs. Yarrow for the Japanese
4 Government is the largest that has been
syet built 1t is 1866 feet long, nineteen
Meet wide, is provided with twin screws,
to give greater facility in turning, and
maintains a speed Of twenty four miles
per hour. The engines are protected by
a steel deck one inch thick and, in addi-
tion to two bow-tubcs for discharoing
torpedocs directly ahead two turn tables
arc mounted on deck, from which torpc-
does can be launched in any desired di-
rection
Very similar in their construction, and
no less famous for speed and manruyring
qualities, arc the boats built by the
Messrs Thonycroft
In this country, the ATcssrs Hcrreshotf
of Bristol r. l., have built number of
very fast boats, designed to be used with
torpedocs. One OF these is the noted
steam-yaGht Stiletto, which may well be
taken as a representative Of the American
type Tho Stiletto is builtof wood. with
iron braces length, ninety-four feet;
width, eleven feet; draught of water,
four feet six inches, and has attained a
speed of twenty-five miles per hour
A very formidable toIpcdo-ycsscl has
been built in recent years by that great
est of living engineers, Captain John
Ericsson. 1t has been appropriately
named the Destroyer Once, at critical
moment in the history of our country, as
every American we'll knows, Captain
Ericsson came to the rescue with Mon
itor. Since then his genius, energy,
and mechanical skill have been devoted
to the problem of saving our great coast
cities from destruction in the event Of
war with foreign naval power.
The result of these years of study and
experimenting is the DESTROYER armed
with torpcdo-gun which discharges
under the water projcctile carrying a
charge sufficient to sink the largest iron
clad atioat. The submarine gun is mounted
in the bow Of the vessel, near the keel, and
is thus nearly ten feet below the surface of
the water 1t consists of a cylinder of
gun-metal, or steel, thirty feet long, adj
ditionally strengthened at the breech by
broad steel Rugs. 1t is loaded ut the
breech, the muzzle being cnCascd by the
vessels stem, and closed by a valve to
exclude the water. This valve is opened
by suitable levers just before the gun is
to be discharged, and closes automatic
ally as the projectile leaves the muzzle
The projcctile is steel torpedo, twenty
five feet long, sixteen inches in diameter,
and carrying a charge of 800 pounds of
gun-cotton. 1t has range Of 300 feet
during the first three seconds of its flight
The form of the torpedo is cylindrical,
with conical point in which is placed
the percussion-lock and firing pin, and
the explosion takes place upon impact
Sc7'i6aer'S Mag0siae.